Journal of Lipid Research, Vol. 9, 473-481, July 1968
Copyright © 1968 by Lipid Research, Inc.

Quantitative aspects of the intestinal absorption and metabolism of cholesterol and ßbeta;-sitosterol in the rat

Bengt BorgstrÖM

Division of Physiological Chemistry, Chemical Center, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden

The quantitative aspects of intestinal absorption and metabolism of cholesterol and ßbeta;-sitosterol have been studied in the rat after a single feeding of radioactive sterols.

When increasing amounts of cholesterol were fed in a constant amount of triolein, the percentage absorbed decreased only gradually and the total amounts absorbed increased to a maximum. Solubility in the fat component fed is one limiting factor in the absorption of cholesterol. At the lowest dose fed, only about 50% of dietary cholesterol was absorbed even though increasing the amount fed led to a 10- to 15-fold increase in total absorption. Sitosterol, when fed in triolein, was absorbed in amounts only one-tenth of the corresponding dose of cholesterol.

Intestinal transit studies indicate that the distinction between sitosterol and cholesterol, when fed together, took place during the process of uptake into the intestinal mucosa. Once taken up by the intestinal mucosal cells, cholesterol and sitosterol did not differ in their subsequent rate of transit out of the mucosal cell.

Feeding sitosterol with cholesterol seems to have the same effect on cholesterol absorption as feeding the same additional dose of cholesterol, the difference being that sitosterol is taken up by the intestinal wall in amounts only one-tenth to one-fifth of that of cholesterol.

The rapid and complete absorption of the triglyceride fat and the subsequent transit of the intestinal content to the large intestine are most probably important factors in the determination of the extent of absorption of nonglyceride fat. The mechanism behind the difference in extent of absorption of the closely related sterols is not explained.

Supplementary key words cholesterol • ßbeta;-sitosterol • intestinal absorption • triolein • intestinal transit • oleic acid • intestinal mucosa • quantitative absorption

Submitted on December 14, 1967
Accepted on March 11, 1968

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